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Written Question
Yemen: Overseas Aid
Wednesday 15th July 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made on the effect of the proposed reductions in Official Development Assistance on the UK’s contribution to multilateral agencies operating in Yemen, including the (a) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, (b) UN International Children’s Fund and (c) World Food Programme.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

Yemen remains a key priority for the UK Government. The UK’s £160 million pledge made at the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Pledging Conference on June 2nd was the third largest by any country and brings our total commitment to Yemen to nearly £1 billion since the conflict started in 2015. The UK remains committed to honouring this pledge and supporting various multilateral agencies operating in Yemen.

Our funding will help UN agencies provide support to at least 300,000 vulnerable people each month to help them buy food and household essentials, treat 40,000 children for malnutrition and provide 1 million people with improved water supply and basic sanitation.


Written Question
Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria: Overseas Aid
Wednesday 15th July 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made on the effect of the proposed reductions in Official Development Assistance on the UK’S contribution to multilateral funding bodies in (a) Syria and (b) the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK is committed to spending 0.7% of Gross National Income (GNI) on Official Development Assistance, which is enshrined in law. This means the aid budget increases when the UK economy grows and decreases if the economy shrinks.

Given the expected fall in GNI this year, aid spending is under review across all departments. No decision has been taken and we are considering the full range of our work.


Written Question
Department for International Development: Reorganisation
Tuesday 30th June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the implications for the merger of her Department with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the Aid Transparency Index rating the transparency of aid spending by her Department as very good and by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as fair.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The 2020 Aid Transparency Index was launched on 24 June and DFID remains ‘very good’ and the 2nd best bilateral donor, and the FCO has improved performance, moving into the ‘fair’ category for the first time and scoring above average for the non-specialised ministries (foreign/defence/trade) assessed. DFID and FCO both lost points because they were unable to provide sufficiently forward-looking budget forecasts due to the limitations of the current Spending Review settlement, which will be addressed in future assessments.

The UK is globally recognised for its expertise and transparency in aid spending. The new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will continue to benefit from that expert knowledge as it delivers aid programmes to some of the world’s poorest people.

We are committed to improving transparency of aid globally and maintaining our high standards for overseas spending.?We will continue to be accountable to parliament and to taxpayers for how we spend UK aid, and to mandate our partners to be transparent.


Written Question
Overseas Aid: Coronavirus
Tuesday 23rd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure that programmes funded by her Department can be adapted to respond to the covid-19 pandemic and progress on development does not stop as a result of it.

Answered by Wendy Morton

We are maximising the UK’s efforts to tackle COVID-19 by adapting and scaling up existing programmes where they can respond to the crisis. In country, we are working quickly to pivot our programming to support the COVID-19 response, reinforcing health, humanitarian, social protection or economic support programmes.


Written Question
Yemen: Overseas Aid
Tuesday 23rd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that aid to Yemen is received by people who need it most.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK Government has a zero-tolerance policy to the diversion of UK aid funds and seeks to minimise the risks, to ensure our life-saving assistance (such as food, clean water and medical support) reaches those vulnerable Yemenis who need it most.

We do this by only channelling our support through organisations with a strong record of delivering and monitoring assistance, such as UN agencies and international NGOs. We also subject our partners to rigorous due diligence processes and regular reviews (including independent third-party verification of delivery).

We also continue to actively call on the Houthis and all parties to the conflict to immediately end all restrictions on aid agencies and comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2451 by allowing safe, rapid, and unhindered access for the humanitarian response and commercial supplies.


Written Question
Overseas Aid: National Income
Monday 22nd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to protect funding for (a) health and (b) education in the event that reductions in the aid budget are required as a result of a reduction in Gross National Income.

Answered by Wendy Morton

All government departments are working through how their plans need to change in light of the risk of a recession this year. No decision has been taken, but we are considering the full range of our work. It is absolutely in Britain’s interest to use ODA to make the world a healthier, safer and more prosperous place, either through tackling coronavirus, providing humanitarian aid in crises or helping girls get a quality education.


Written Question
Schools: Females
Monday 22nd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans her Department has to help ensure that girls are not prevented from returning to education as schools reopen following the covid-19 pandemic.

Answered by Wendy Morton

Ensuring 12 years of quality education for all girls remains a UK priority. As the effects of the COVID-19 crisis play out, the impact on girls’ education is becoming increasingly clear. The UK’s response to the pandemic aims to tackle the preventative measures to girls returning to education by mitigating short term risks by focussing on safety, nutrition, wellbeing and learning whilst schools are closed; and supporting countries to protect and maintain education budgets in the longer term.

DFID is adapting its bilateral education programmes in 18 countries. The Global Partnership for Education, to which the UK is the largest donor, is flexing over £200 million to support education sector stability in response to the pandemic. The UK has also announced £20 million for UNICEF’s crisis appeal, which includes education, and a further £5 million to the Education Cannot Wait fund to support emergency education in fragile contexts.


Written Question
Developing Countries: Vaccination
Monday 22nd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to ensure that the provision of vaccines following the Global Vaccine Summit achieves the Sustainable Development Goal to leave no one behind by prioritising the poorest and most marginalised children.

Answered by Wendy Morton

The UK is proud to have raised $8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance at the Global Vaccine Summit on 4 June. This funding, which includes the UK’s world-leading £1.65 billion pledge, will support Gavi’s strategy to leave no one behind with immunisation over the next five years.

The UK’s central priority for Gavi is equity. Gavi immunises nearly half of the world’s children, and since 2000, has increased basic immunisation coverage levels in Gavi-supported countries from 59% to 80%. Despite increases in overall immunisation coverage levels, health systems in the poorest countries are still not reaching almost one in five children with a full course of basic vaccines.

These remaining pockets of under-immunised children are often the hardest to reach. The UK is working closely with Gavi to ensure that we remove barriers to immunisation for the most marginalised children. Gavi is working closely with its Alliance Partners, WHO and UNICEF, to adopt new strategies in-country to address gender, poverty, fragility and intra-country barriers to immunisation.


Written Question
Overseas Aid: Coronavirus
Monday 22nd June 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she is having with UN agencies to ensure that funding for the covid-19 response is allocated urgently to organisations operating at community level.

Answered by Nigel Adams

My officials continue to liaise with UN partners on all aspects of its COVID-19 response, including their work with NGOs and civil society organisations.

DFID welcomes the vital role that NGOs and civil society organisations will continue to play in service delivery through multilaterals. UN agencies have undertaken a review of their existing procedures related to partnership management and issued additional internal guidance to simplify and expedite collaboration where appropriate. We will be working with the UN and DFID’s country offices.


Written Question
Yemen: Humanitarian Aid
Tuesday 5th May 2020

Asked by: Chris Law (Scottish National Party - Dundee West)

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to (a) enhance and (b) maintain humanitarian access in Yemen.

Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary

The UK is extremely concerned that Houthi restrictions and interference in the delivery of humanitarian assistance is now forcing humanitarian agencies, such as the World Food Programme, to scale back their assistance in northern Yemen. In line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2451, we are calling on all parties to facilitate unhindered access for humanitarian actors and agencies and ensure that humanitarian workers are able to conduct their work safely and without harm.

Ministers and officials continue to engage closely with other donors and humanitarian agencies to ensure a coordinated international approach on how we adjust the way we all give aid, to ensure it gets to those in need.